PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Indiana finally found a way to beat Rutgers despite itself Saturday.
Devine Redding gave Indiana the lead with a 34-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter and caught Richard Lagow’s third TD pass in the fourth as the error-prone Hoosiers rallied for a 33-27 win over Rutgers in the Big Ten.
This was an ugly game for Indiana (5-4, 3-3). The Hoosiers turned it over four times, with two leading to touchdowns, missed three field goals and two extra points in handing Rutgers (2-7, 0-6) its sixth straight loss.
“The turnovers were bad,” Indiana coach Kevin Wilson said. “We had four. You’re lucky to win on the road with that. You’re really lucky to win with the kicking errors we had on the PAT and field goal teams, we’re very fortunate to win.
“But kids played hard. Defense was awesome. A bunch of three and outs. Our defense really played well. I was proud of those guys.”
The Indiana defense held Rutgers without a first down for seven straight series after the Scarlet Knights converted a fumble on the second-half kickoff into a 24-13 lead.
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Lagow, who completed 28 of 40 passes for 394 yards, ignited the comeback with a 40-yard TD toss to Camion Patrick.
The redshirt junior said the key for him was to just keep throwing after his second pick.
“You can’t linger on it, so after the second one you kind of just hit a point where you just say (forget) it,” Lagow said after Indiana beat Rutgers for the first time in three games. “You got to bounce back.”
Lagow, who had hit Ricky Jones for a 36-yard TD in the first quarter, led a two-play, 53-yard drive to give the Hoosiers a 26-24 lead with 2:01 left in the third quarter.
Lagow hit Luke Timian for 19 yards on the first play and Redding covered the final 34 almost untouched for the lead.
After gaining a season-high 414 yards rushing in a win over Maryland last week, Indiana was limited to 147 yards on the ground. Ninety-three came on the touchdown runs by Redding and Zander Diamont (59).
The other 42 carries netted 54 yards, but the passing game stepped up with 420 yards, giving the Hoosiers 567 in total offense.